'Game of Thrones' star Maisie Williams trained in this Filipino martial art for Battle of Winterfell scene

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C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxFa_ElnarV/" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxFa_ElnarV/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by HBO (@hbo)</a> on <time dateTime="2019-05-05T14:46:34+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">May 5, 2019 at 7:46am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Defending Winterfell against the Night King&#x27;s army was no small matter.</p><p>It&#x27;s no surprise that Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark in the hit HBO series &quot;Game of Thrones,&quot; came prepared, training in all sorts of martial arts, including in the Philippines&#x27; Pekiti-Tirsia Kali.</p><p>As revealed in an interview with US-based site <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/55655-game-of-thrones-season-8-battle-of-winterfell-how-maisie-williams-trained-in-filipino-martial-arts">Inverse</a>, the stunt team of &quot;Game of Thrones&quot; shared that they had Williams learn an &quot;adapted version&quot; of the style in preparation for the final season.</p><p>&quot;Kali is a style we drew from,&quot; stunt choreographer Rowley Irlam said. &quot;My team comes from a very wide background of martial artists, weapons experts, so we draw from all styles we possibly can. Filipino stick work is definitely one of them for this piece.&quot;</p><p>Irlam shared that fans can see this during the scene where Arya had to continue fighting despite her spear being broken in half.</p><p>Kali is a style that specializes in close quarter fights and situations where people are forced to use improvised weapons.</p><p>Irlam also explained that the idea of incorporating Kali came to them when they were presented with the plan to have Arya fight in a tight interior stairway, which was part of the Winterfell set.</p><p>The Battle of Winterfell was the centerpiece fight of the show&#x27;s final season, which began airing <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/04/15/19/spoiler-alert-worlds-collide-in-game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere">midway last month</a>.</p><p>He said that they were &quot;looking for something new and original&quot; when they opted for the Filipino style. &quot;We never wanted to repeat anything we&#x27;ve done before.&quot;</p>

'Game of Thrones' star Maisie Williams trained in this Filipino martial art for Battle of Winterfell scene | ABS-CBN

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'Game of Thrones' star Maisie Williams trained in this Filipino martial art for Battle of Winterfell scene

'Game of Thrones' star Maisie Williams trained in this Filipino martial art for Battle of Winterfell scene

ABS-CBN News

Published May 11, 2019 06:49 PM PHT

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Updated May 12, 2019 07:19 AM PHT

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Game of Thrones

Maisie Williams

Arya Stark

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